1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of sound mixing and in particular to methods and apparatus for mixing sound, such as music, in a distributed network environment such as the internet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional sound or music studio includes sound recording rooms where artists create live music in solo or in groups and equipment which records the music or sounds in separate tracks with or without electronic signal conditioning and with or without added special effects. Whatever track is recorded can be then mixed with one or more other prerecorded tracks, including variable signal processing of each of the tracks, to present a mixed track which comprises the final recording. Thus, a musical soloist may perform against himself or herself in prerecorded tracks or against an instrumental background and/or one or more prerecorded tracks to provide the input data from which a final mixed recording is produced. Performers of any one of the tracks can be rerecorded and remixed with differing signal processing or differing digital input, if the live performer or performers are present. Very often, instrumental tracks, rhythm tracks or special effect tracks will have been prerecorded at a prior time or at a different place while later tracks are added to the final mixed recording. In conventional studios it is necessary to have each of the tracks physically present in the studio in a tape form, regardless of when recorded. This means that media must be physically shipped to the sound studio in order for mixing to occur.
The sound recording mixing equipment is often complex and requires the services of a highly skilled and highly compensated sound recording engineer. Thus, the hourly cost of sound recording studios can be high because of the requirement of the assistance of a skilled sound recording engineer as well as the cost of expensive equipment, which must be amortized over the limited number of recording hours which the studio has available and is being operated. All of these factors make sound recording studios not only non-interactive with the performer, but completely out of economical reach from all of the professional performers and thus limited even within the class of professional performers to those who have some type of financial backing or recording contract. The use of sound recording studios for amateur performers for their own enjoyment is thus almost always economically ruled out.
Therefore, what is needed is some type of apparatus and method which will allow the benefits of a sound recording studio to be made available to everyone, including amateur performers, over the entire globe and in a manner which is arbitrarily displaced in time and at an economical level.